The Linguist On Language

4) The time spent looking things up in a conventional dictionary is better spent reading and getting more exposure. If there are a lot of new words I prefer to read on the computer where other tools are available. If reading a book, I often make lists of the unknown words, and then never bother looking them up, as long as I am kind of getting about 80% of the meaning of what I am reading.

CHAPTER VI: OUTPUT - SPEAKING AND WRITING

I have emphasized focusing on listening and reading and vocabulary learning. But, how do we get to using the language to express ourselves? I wil tel you my experience, when I speak, what the obstacles and difficulties are, and how I overcome them.

Moving to output

Mostly I just listen and read when learning a language. This is largely because I am learning in a location where the language is not spoken. Even when I am in a place where the language is spoken I favour input activities, in order to develop my language potential. They are easier to organize and control. They are also cheaper.

When I do write or speak in the language that I am learning, it is usual y for one of the fol owing five reasons.

1. to maintain interest and motivation

2. to provide myself with feedback

3. to identify problems in my use of the language

4. to practice using the language

5. to communicate in real and meaningful situations

Do not seek perfection

Language learning is not a matter of intel ect and it is not a competition. Do not worry about your performance. You are probably doing better than you think. There will always be words that you do not know, or times when you feel awkward expressing yourself. Just take credit for being able to communicate in another language.

If you put pressure on yourself to remember a person's name you are likely not to be able to remember it. In expressing yourself in a new language, the more relaxed you are, the more easily you wil be able to recal the words you need to convey your thoughts. So take it easy.

Corrections

I received the fol owing comment recently related to the learning of Chinese. I think it raises a larger question about language learning or even learning.

Here is the quote:

"Steve, how would you then practice Chinese tones without the teacher standing by to tel you whether or not you actual y got it right?"

My answer:

1. If the teacher tel s you that you got it right, that does not mean that you wil get it right the next time. And if you start to get it right often, that does not mean that you wil not get it wrong again.

2. Trying to learn the tones of individual Chinese words is a bit like trying to learn the gender of nouns in French or the rules for cases in Russian or German, or articles or tenses in English ( for non-native speakers). You can look at them, study them, think you have learned them, but when it comes time to speak, you wil not remember them and not be able to get them right, consistently.

3. Your brain has to get used to these strange patterns. I learned 4,000 Chinese characters. I cannot tel you the individual tones of al of these words, yet I am quite accurate in my tones.

How did I do it? I listened often to high resonance content. My favorite was the XiangSheng comic dialogues, where the intonation of the language is exaggerated. I listened often, over and over. I picked up on the rhythm. My brain began to be able to imitate, and eventual y to anticipate the tones. Speaking without even worrying about tones also helped, if I was able to listen and pick up on the "frequency" of the resonance coming at me from native speakers.

As it is with other aspects of the language, rules, tables, lists of Chinese words with tones, etc. may al help a little. They may help us become more observant. But basical y we need a lot of exposure and we need resonance.

Having a teacher standing by, tel ing me if "I got it right" or not, is a low resonance learning environment, at least to me. The important issue in learning is not having the teacher tel me that I got it right. It is figuring out how to connect with the language, how to be energized by it, how to enjoy it. It is pointless to get something right for a specific situation, like a test, or when standing in front of a teacher, if you are unable to reproduce this skil regularly in practice.

To achieve that level of skil s is a long road, and getting it "wrong" along the way is of little importance. You have to believe that you wil get better, and in the meantime you just bumble along making mistakes, and focusing on input as much as possible.

Mistakes are good

Making mistakes, when speaking or writing a new language, is not the same as making certain other kinds of mistakes, at least to me. Making mistakes in language learning is not only necessary, it is a good sign. If you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough to use the language.